Currently browsing the "Ben Whishaw" tag.

Reviews: She Said and Women Talking

I saw these two films just days apart and they seemed to speak to one another. Both take on sexual predation, but from very different viewpoints. She Said is a journalistic thriller based on the true story of the female journalists who exposed Harvey Weinstein’s long history of abuse that led to his much deserved comeuppance and ignited the #MeToo movement. Women Talking is also based on a true story, that of a group of women in an isolated religious community who come together to decide how to deal with a long and horrifying history of rape by the men in their enclave. The women who tell their stories in She Said are fearful of losing their careers, while the ones in Women Talking are afraid they will lose their place in heaven. And so they all have to think long and hard about how to take on the monstrous men who hold power over them.

Review: The Personal History of David Copperfield

Some stories seem to attract actors and directors over and over, year after year. Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical “David Copperfield” is one of those. It’s been adapted for the screen at least 14 times, beginning in the silent era, as features, series, animation, and probably the most famous version by George Cukor (My Fair Lady, The Philadelphia Story) with W.C Fields as Mr Micawber! So you might think it didn’t have anything new to offer. You’d be wrong. In the hands of Armando Iannucci (The Death of Stalin, In the Loop), the story takes a decidedly humorous and absurdist turn and breaths a fresh life into the classic tale of an orphan’s coming-of-age in Victorian England.

Review: Mary Poppins Returns

Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place, The Girl on the Train) is practically perfect in every way as the practically-perfect nanny Mary Poppins in the long-awaited sequel, Mary Poppins Returns. The film itself, however, is not so practically-perfect, mostly because the songs are far less memorable and joyful than those featured in the 1964 classic starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. I guess you could say that Mary Poppins Returns is practically okay in every way that counts: it offers up decent family-friendly viewing over the holidays; is reminiscent of that bygone era of heartwarming live-action movie musicals; and is awash in colorful costumes and scenery.

Quickie Reviews: Paddington 2; The Commuter

Paddington 2 – “If you’re kind and polite, the world will be right.” If only it were that simple. In Paddington’s world, it is. That’s why kids and adults could benefit from a return visit. Paddington 2 is a charming follow-up to the 2015 movie based on the popular children’s books by Michael Bond. As the story unfolds, Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) has settled into life in London with his adopted family, the Browns. He’s become a popular member of the community – spreading joy, mischief, and marmalade wherever he goes. But a series of mishaps land him in prison, accused of stealing a pop-up book of London that he intended to buy for his dear Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday. On the human front, Hugh Grant steals the show as a washed-up actor with a nefarious agenda that involves the pop-up book and a hidden treasure.

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–//Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night//And watching, with eternal lids apart//Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite//The moving waters at their priestlike task//Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores//Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask//Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–//No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable//Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast//To feel for ever its soft fall and swell//Awake for ever in a sweet unrest//Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath//And so live ever–or else swoon to death. – John Keats (1819)